NEW YORK CITY — The most valuable item crossing the virtual block in Sotheby’s July 21 auction of the Eric C. Caren Archive was an autograph letter signed (“Go: Washington”) as Continental Commander to Bryan Fairfax, hoping for good news regarding the peace negotiations to end the Revolutionary War — not knowing the preliminary articles of peace had been signed two weeks earlier. The two-page document, which sold for $60,000, including buyer’s premium, reveals a cold, tired and anxious commander at his Newburgh headquarters, wondering to one of his oldest friends if the next news from Great Britain will signal “the continuance of the war — or acceptance of peace.”

Watch for a more extensive recap of this sale to follow.